Trade Secretary extend's UK steel safeguards until June 2024
It's fantastic news that the Trade Secretary has decided to extend the UK's steel safeguards for another two years up to June 2024. This is a real show of support for our steel industry and the thousands of jobs it supports.
Since securing the original extension last year, I've been working with colleagues to demonstrate how vital these protections are for our domestic steel industry.
The decision to extend the safeguards prevents us from being a target for the dumping of cheap steel and other unfair global trading practices.
Steel safeguards are tariffs that are applied when the volume of imports of a particular steel product threatens to seriously undercut UK-made steel, or where we are already producing more than enough of a product to meet domestic demand. This means we are still able to freely trade with many other reputable countries such as the USA and the EU, but we're protected from the worst behaviour seen in the global marketplace.
These safeguards will directly tackle issues of dumping, of unfair government subsidies or, as in the case of safeguards, give businesses time to adjust to unforeseen increases in imports and so are clearly in the economic interest of the UK.
Steel is a vital industry for the UK, critically important to national infrastructure and used by all of us every day. The use of unfair subsidies means government must do more to support our steel industry, those who work in it and the businesses connected to it. The tariff-free volumes secured mean that UK steel and aluminium exports to the US can return to levels not seen since before 2018.
By personally deciding to extend these safeguards, the Secretary of State for International Trade and the Prime Minister have shown themselves again to be strong champions of our UK steel industry.
